Pay Components
Define reusable allowances, deductions, and employer contributions that are automatically applied to payslips.
What Are Pay Components?
Pay Components are named monetary amounts added to or subtracted from a payslip in addition to the employee's base pay for hours worked. Common examples include:
- Travel or phone allowances
- Medical aid deductions
- Uniform or tool deductions
- Employer pension or provident fund contributions
You define a component once and then assign it to employees or departments. It is recalculated and applied automatically each time a payslip is generated — you don't need to enter it manually for each pay run.
Component Types
| Type | Effect on Payslip |
|---|---|
| Allowance | Added to gross pay. Increases the employee's taxable income (unless configured otherwise). |
| Deduction | Subtracted from net pay. Reduces the amount the employee takes home. Does not affect gross for PAYE purposes unless it is a pre-tax deduction. |
| Employer Contribution | An amount the employer pays on top of the employee's salary — e.g. employer's share of a pension fund. It appears on the payslip as a benefit but does not reduce the employee's net pay. It is an employer cost only. |
Calculation Methods
Each component uses one of two calculation methods:
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Fixed Amount | A flat rand value applied every pay period. Enter the amount in the Value field. Example: R500 travel allowance per month. |
| Percentage of Gross | The value is calculated as a percentage of the employee's gross pay for the period. Enter the percentage in the Value field. Example: 7.5% pension fund deduction. |
For components that are a percentage of a specific portion of gross (e.g. pension on basic pay only, not on overtime), use a fixed amount per employee instead — percentage components always apply to the full gross figure.
Adding a Pay Component
- Go to Pay Components in the sidebar.
- Click Add Component.
- Give it a descriptive name (this is the label that appears on the payslip).
- Choose the Type: Allowance, Deduction, or Employer Contribution.
- Choose the Calculation Method: Fixed or Percentage.
- Enter the Value (rand amount or percentage).
- Click Save.
Assigning Components
Once created, a component must be assigned to produce any effect. You can assign at two levels:
Department Level
Open a department and scroll to the Pay Components section. Select the components to apply to all employees in that department. Every employee in the department will receive this component on their payslips automatically.
Employee Level
Open an employee record and scroll to the Pay Components section. Add components that apply only to this individual — for example, a personal medical aid deduction at a specific rate. Employee-level components are added on top of any department-level components unless they share the same name, in which case the employee-level value takes precedence.
If you assign a "Travel Allowance" component to a department and also assign a "Travel Allowance" component directly to one of that department's employees, both will appear on their payslip — you will see two Travel Allowance lines. The system treats them as independent additions. If you only want the employee to receive the individual amount, remove the department-level assignment for that person.
How Components Appear on Payslips
Each assigned component appears as a named line item on the payslip, clearly separated from base pay. Allowances are shown under Additions, deductions under Deductions, and employer contributions in a separate Employer Costs section (for information only — not taken from the employee's pay).
Editing or Removing a Component
Editing a component changes the value going forward. Existing payslips that were already generated are not affected — they stored the calculated amount at generation time.
To stop applying a component to an employee or department, remove it from the assignment list on that employee or department record. The component definition itself remains available for reassignment.
Deleting a component definition that is still assigned to employees or departments will cause those payslips to skip that line — the component will simply not appear. Always remove assignments before deleting a component definition, and verify your next payslip run includes the correct lines.